Now, for the climax! Finally!
Brandy swiftly ducked under a swung axe, before turning and swinging a punch of his into the gut of the pirate who had tried. He crumpled like a ton of bricks.
"Hey, Ryoga." Brandy called, sidestepping a charging pirate wielding a spear and taking him out with a chop to the back of the neck.
"Yes, Captain?" replied Ryoga, dodging away from the blades of two swords before dispatching their owners with a pair of kicks.
He looked over at his superior, who gestured vaguely to further on in the base. "You should head after Helsing; I can handle these guys here."
Ryoga blinked. "Are you sure, sir?"
"Oh, I think I can manage fine on my own. Besides, it's getting pretty crowded around here - it'd be a shame if you tripped."
Ryoga looked around, at all of the unconscious members of the Road Warrior pirates that were littering the floor of the base. Most, if not all of them, had been knocked out with a single blow. The battle was, to put it lightly, going reasonably well. None of the thugs were a match for Brandy or Ryoga, and the marines of the base were proving quite unlike their coward of a captain, fighting with fierce determination and courage.
The deputy captain then nodded, running off in swift pursuit of the fugitive captain.
Brandy slowly turned back to the still standing pirates, who were watching him cautiously. A loopy grin slowly spread over the marine's face, as a rosy tint appeared on his cheeks. His posture began to slip, and he adopted a stance that was...somewhat unprofessional.
"Come ooooooon, guysssss..." Brandy called, slurring his words, and then hiccuped twice. He gestured toward himself, still smiling. "Don'tcha think you can taaaake...*hic*...one old guy?"
The Road Warrior pirates once again proved easily provokable, rushed at Brandy as one.
Brandy began to move, ducking and weaving between the weapons that were swung at him - far more clumsily than he had been doing until then, but no less effectively.
Suddenly thrusting out a fist, Brandy nailed one pirate right in the head, flooring him. Then, appearing to suddenly stumble, he swung a leg around, knocking over several more of them. Rising from that, the marine captain hit another beneath the chin with the flat of his palm, the pirate falling to the floor and knocking himself unconscious. The remaining pirates showed amazing discretion by backing off for the moment.
The Road Warriors looked at eachother with some confusion. The old guy had been more than a match for them while he was fighting normally, but his fighting style seemed to have completely changed. The speed of his movements had increased by several times, and become completely unpredictable. What the hell was going on?
One of the pirates seemed to know, for he pointed right at the wobbling captain and said fearfully, "I...I know what he's using! That's Drunken Boxing!"
The rest of them looked to the pirate in question, and then back at Brandy...who raised a finger to point at him. The pirate flinched visibly.
"Bingooooo." said Brandy, sounding oddly cheerful. "I'm surprised some common thug knows about such a...*hic*...renowned art."
He clapped twice. "Kudos, Congratulations, Salutations, and all that."
"But how can that be?" One pirate questioned. "He hasn't even drank any alchohol!"
Brandy wagged a finger at them. "You...*hic*...shouldn't assume I didn't drink any just because you didn't see me do it! I'm a master at drinking when I'm not supposed to, see!"
He suddenly shook his head. "But...*hic*...no, that's not it. Y'see, I might look like just an ordinary man-"
The Road Warrior pirates let out a collective snort.
"-but it just so happens that I have a Devil Fruit power! It's known as the Hebe Hebe no Mi. Basically, y'see...*hic*...it lets me store away a certain amount of alcoholic...*hic*...content whenever I drink booze. Then, I can just," he brought his hands together, "summon it up, whenever I feel like it."
"So, basically," said one of the Road Warriors, scratching his head, "it lets you get drunk?"
"Bingo agaaaain." Brandy said, grinning like a hyena.
"THAT'S STUPID!" they all yelled.
Brandy frowned, pointing an accusing finger at them. "Maybe you'll...*hic*...think differently when you get a few more mouthfuls of my...*hic*...Drunken Boxing!"
Looking at eachother, the Road Warriors shrugged. It wouldn't be the first time, after all. Then, they all charged as one at the drunkard captain.
Brandy again began to dodge quickly. As two swords were swung at him from different sides, Brandy suddenly did a standing backflip, dodging them completely. Then landing, he manuevered his hands underneath one of the pirate's feet. "Flipping the Table!"
The captain quickly performed another flip, his legs moving back to their right positions as the pirate fell to the floor, cracking his head and falling unconscious.
The other pirate gulped as he abruptly realized that Brandy had used that flip to launch himself directly toward him. He turned and tried to run, but-
"Shake the Bottle!" Brandy's fist caught him in the top of the skull with a downward swing, crushing him in one blow.
Rising to stand straightly, Brandy lurched to one side, narrowly avoiding getting his skull smashed in by a mace. Grabbing the perpetrator by the shoulders, he smiled briefly.
"Bouncer's Rush!" The forward throw he executed sent the thug sliding into the wall, his head smashing through where it collided.
Brandy frowned in disgust for a moment. "Usually when you say a base is weak, you mean it metaphorically..."
He turned and faced the rest of them. "Well? Come on...*hic*...already! Or are the Road Warrior pirates not even brave enough to lose with...*hic*...dignity?"
And, sure enough, the Road Warriors charged at him once more.
Brandy grinned slyly. "Hope Ryoga's having as much fun as I am."
One Piece: The Skull Pirates
Chapter Fourteen: Underground Melee! Throw off your Chains and Fight!
"Damn, it's dark down here."
The laws of the universe, as well as narrative casuality, dictate than an utterance like this in a very clearly dark cave simply can't go away without comment. Therefore, it was good that he had recruited Mary and Gerald, for when these situations came up.
"Oh? Did you hear that, Gerald? Apparently it is quite obscurite down here."
"Really? That's certainly news to me, Mary. It's a good thing we have Jack here to tell us these things, eh?"
"Isn't it? I'm sure we'd be perdis if it weren't for him."
"Okay," Jack growled, "I get it. But can you explain to me why I have to walk in front? I can't see more than two feet in front of me, even with those set up."
He jerked a thumb at one of many crude holders they had seen since entering the cavern. Each contained one dimly lit candle, which, despite the frequency of these holders, did almost nothing to light up the cave. Some of them were even burnt out entirely, or the holders had broken off and laid forgotten.
"It's a little ironic, when you think about it." Gerald mused. "These fellows have probably been down this path so often that this doesn't effect them at all. But when someone else, like us, tries to go down it..." he finished with a shrug.
"I notice that you didn't answer my question." Jack growled. "Why exactly am I in the front, then? Especially considering that we have a ninja on our crew."
"Shinobi, Captain." Frank said, from behind Mary and Gerald.
"Whatever. You guys can see in the dark, right?"
"Actually, captain, that seems to be a common misconception most people have about us. While darkness can often be a great ally to us during our missions, our capability of seeing in the dark varies from person to person. At the moment, I can only see about as well as you can."
Jack looked back, looking shocked. "Well, that's a fine thing to tell us after we came down here, isn't it? I can't believe this, I-"
Suddenly, Jack walked right into a wall - or, rather, Drake's back, which was essentially the same thing. The merman looked back at him and lifted a finger to his lips, then pointed past himself.
They had reached a sharp turn in the cavern, and beyond, at least two people could be heard.
While they had been expecting this, that didn't make it any less of a problem. The layout of the cavern prevented any hiding spots, and even if it was just two pirates, that was more than enough to raise the alarm. And while that was probably going to happen anyway, having it happen here would be bad.
"Frank, I don't suppose you could-"
"Right away, Captain."
Only the fact that they were trying to be quiet kept Jack from jumping. From his position right next to Jack, Frank slipped past Drake (not a terribly easy task) and moved around the corner.
"Hey, who're - ugh..."
"I'll handle him, you get to th - gah!"
The apparent third guard didn't get out anything more than a pained grunt.
"He's far more skilled than he appears." Drake noted as they walked around the corner to join the shinobi.
"It's a shame he doesn't think that." Mary murmured to herself.
"Well, what did you think, Drake, that he was just some guy with a mask fetish?" Jack asked.
"I wasn't sure what to think, and I'm still not." Drake replied. "Keep in mind, you're the only member of your crew that I've seen fight."
"Oh yeah, that's true, isn't it?" Jack said, nodding. "Well, try to keep your curiosity from distracting you during the fight, okay?"
Drake said nothing.
Frank stood over the third man, who was a short distance away from the others. He pointed at him, and then to a bell on a small beam, attached to the cavern wall close by.
"This one seemed to have heard us slightly, Captain, and had moved closer to this. If we had been waited just a bit longer, he would have alerted the entire cavern."
Gerald nodded. "They might look dumb, but they understand enough about fighting. Well, I suppose that is their job here."
"Yeah, and I'm sure you know all about fighting, don't you Gerald?" Jack said sarcastically stepping past the unconscious guards. "Come on, let's go. And none of you touch the bell."
"Oh, thank you for the useful conseil, Jack. We were all clammoring to, you know." Mary called from the back.
If the guards were still conscious, the sound of Jack's palm colliding with his face would have certainly alerted them.
"Damn it, this base is a maze! Did he have hit designed like this on purpose?"
Ryoga felt like he had been running in circles for hours, even though it had only been a few minutes. Helsing's base was a labyrinth, and beyond the few rooms they had been given access to, it was unfamiliar territory for the marine. Side passages led to nowhere, corridors went in circles, and he had even opened a few doors to find nothing but blank walls behind them.
"It's not as if I expected him to leave a trail of bread crumbs, but I didn't think he'd cover his tracks this well. Was he expecting to be confronted eventually?"
Ryoga was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice when his shoe coming down didn't elicit the familiar sound of leather on wood, but instead a dull squelch.
The marine skidded to a halt, and turned back. There, against the wall, was a small puddle of-
"Oil." Ryoga murmured, touching his finger to it. Standing up, he looked hard at the wall before him. He drew back his fist. "Ryu..."
A moment later, Ryoga stepped over the unconscious pirate who had been standing behind the hollow wall, and looked over the hidden hallway he had uncovered. It was short, and very thin, obviously built to be as discreet as possible. At the end of it was a flight of stairs, leading down, obviously much further than the base's foundations reached.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ryoga plunged onward into darkness.
"You know, I've been thinking. And shut up with the stupid remarks for a second, guys, I'm being serious."
Jack pointed upward, at the low roof of the cavern, and then to the sides of the passage, where piles of strewn rock were visible constantly. "Some parts of this cavern might be natural, but I really doubt that's the case for the one we're in right now. And this can't be the only one."
Gerald nodded. "Well, of course. They must have been digging for days to make all of them. You have to admire their initiative, at least."
"Well..." Jack began, somewhat gravely. "What I'm wondering is, if they built all of these paths underneath the island, just how stable do you think all of them are?"
The implications of this statement made the group come to an abrupt halt.
"It certainly isn't impossible," Mary murmured, sounding nervous.
Frank gulped.
"Hey, hey," Jack held up his hands placatingly, "I didn't say it would collapse. And if it does, it probably won't be for a while...probably."
Judging by the looks on their faces, this did little to soothe his crew's minds. Drake was impassive as always.
"Sheesh," Jack said, scratching his head, "excuse me for trying to bring something to the table!"
"I don't even know why we're bothering, really. I mean, can you even tell the difference between before and now?"
Karen's bitter statement didn't seem to faze any of her fellow mermen, who were working to rebuild their burnt homes as best they could. It was tough going; they had nails, but no hammers, so they were forced to use the weapons the Road Warrior pirates had left in their hasty retreat.
"But, Bis Sis," put in Lyn, who was standing just beside her, handing the older merwoman spare boards, "once Big Bro Drake and his friends beat them up, this'll be the last time we'll have to do this, won't it?"
Karen turned and looked at her adoptive sister's bright eyes, and earnest smile. She took the board from her, ruffling her hair as she did so. "Yeah, I guess you're right, kiddo. C'mon, we should try to finish before he gets back."
Lyn nodded eagerly. "Yeah!"
"So, now what?"
After progressing further through the tunnel, the Skull Pirates (and Drake) seemed to have found the central area of the caverns. It was wide, and large enough to hold the bulk of the Road Warrior crew, as well as the mermen slaves.
Ducking back behind the large pile of debris piled near the tunnel opening, Jack turned to his crew.
"Well, any ideas?" he whispered, although he needn't have bothered. The constant clank of the mermen's digging tools, combined with the shouting from their slavers, made enough of a racket that Jack could have shouted at the top of his lungs and still be unheard.
"Well," Gerald mused, stroking his moustache, "we can't exactly start a war in there without putting those fellows in danger, can we? No offense to you, Drake, but even if they're mermen, they're bound to be malnurished from all their time down here. Not to mention those shackles..."
Frank nodded. "And just as Karen-san said, the threat of something happening to their families is being held over their heads. Even if they were healthy, they may be hesitant to listen to us. Additionally, there are no places to hide within that cavern, making stealth nearly impossible. Well, maybe not for me, but of course I am a shinobi."
"The fact that they outnumber us dix to une goes without saying, doesn't it?" Mary concluded.
"Yeah, yeah," Jack said, nodding decisively. "So, I take it none of you have any ideas?"
Abruptly he grinned, making the rest of the party feel very uncomfortable. "Well, it just so happens that I've come up with a plan, for once!"
This feeling discomfort turned to a sheer feeling of impending doom. But nonetheless, he was their captain, so they listened.
They had to admit, it didn't sound like that bad a plan...
"Alright, keep moving!"
The Road Warrior Pirates, as well as the mermen, collectively raised their heads to watch as Drake stumbled forward into the cavern, falling to his knees. He was covered in bruises, and was panting heavily. The other mermen began to murmur to themselves; was this the merman they had heard rumors about, who had been attacking the marines and pirates?
The sound of a boot stomping on the cave floor silenced them, as Wez himself stepped forward, watching the merman curiously as two members of his crew stepped out of the tunnel. The rest of the Road Warriors did the same; most of them had been subjected to at least one beating by Drake since he had come to the island, and the thought of two of their crewmates finally defeating him was certainly pleasant, but also quite bewildering.
Drake tried to rise, but one of them stepped forward and clubbed him in the back of the head, knocking him down. "What do you think you re doing, merman!? How dare you try to rise before our glorious leader! Bow down, now!"
The pirate in question was dressed in a long, dirty coat, that was ragged and covered in holes. Below that, he was wearing pants that appeared to be meant for camoflauge. Finally, a cowboy hat sat perched on his head. The man's fashion sense went without a second glance, however, as all the Road Warriors dressed like that.
"Hmph. Some people just can't respect authority. Not that you can call them people, of course." Spoke the other. His wardrobe was quite different from the other crew member's, wearing an equally dirty emerald jacket that sported several meaningless badges, and a long pair of flashy pants that stretched down past his shoes, which were apparently non-descript.
Wez stepped forward slightly, eyeing Drake with an air of caution. "So, this is the mysterious merman that's been attacking us, huh? Not so much of a boogeyman in the light, is he, boys?"
As the truth of the matter began to sink in for them, the Road Warriors began to sneer, and snickering made it's way through them.
"But..." Wez pointed at his two crewmates behind the beaten martial artist. "Tell me, because I'm bad with names...who are you two, again?"
The first pointed to himself. "Kacj, boss. The j is silent."
The second did the same. "And I am Ergdal. I apologize if it's difficult to remember."
"Uh-huh." Wez nodded. "Now, if I may ask, how exactly did you take care of him? From what I've heard of him, he's pretty strong."
"Well, uh..." began Kacj. "...so are we?"
Ergdal nodded. "After all, we are your men, aren't we? Of course we're strong enough to take down one merman, ha ha."
Wez nodded. "I see. Well, I won't have you bore me with the exact details, then. Drag him over here, and we'll...interrogate him."
Kacj and Ergdal nodded, and, walking around to Drake's front, they each grabbed ahold of one of his arms.
"...oh, yeah." spoke up Wez from behind them, something apparently having occurred to him. "Can I ask you guys one more thing?"
"What is it, sir?" asked Kacj, without turning around.
"Well..."
Sensing movement from behind them, Kacj and Ergdal jumped away. Drake did the same, and the three just barely avoided getting smashed into the cave floor by two massive iron claws.
Turning back to their 'leader', the two watched as Wez raised his claws from the cracks they had made in the cave floor, and watched them carefully from behind his mask.
"What I was wondering was, exactly how stupid do you two think I am? It's obvious that you're not part of my crew."
"Dammit," 'Kacj' growled, snapping a finger in irritation, "how'd you know?"
Wez shrugged. "Come on. Have you seen my crew? Did'ya really think I'd buy two random guys taking this bruiser down when whole groups of them have tried and failed, repeatedly? Just because I lead a group of idiots doesn't make me one."
'Ergdal' nodded thoughtfully. "He has a point, captain. We probably should have thought this plan through."
"Hey, c'mon! This guy looks as dumb as a sack of hammers; how was I supposed to know he was actually smart?"
"Hell," continued Wez, ignoring the insult, "it doesn't even look like you two hurt him that badly."
"Hey, I tried! It's like punching a wall!" 'Kacj' yelled indignantly.
Wez shook his head. "So...who are you guys, anyway?"
A grin crossed 'Kacj''s face, and in one motion he dramatically flung off his clothing, revealing that, surprisingly, Kacj was actually Jack!
His smile widening, the pirate jabbed a finger at himself. "Captain of the Skull Pirates, Scourge of West Blue! Jack Bones is the name!"
Ergdal did the same, revealing himself as, shockingly, Gerald! "First mate of the Skull Pirates, no-one in particular. I am Gerald Riviera."
"..." Drake turned to see the two looking at him expectantly. "...what? I don't think they care who I am."
"Well, I care more than about these two." Wez cut in. "I've never even heard of any Skull Pirates before, and somehow I doubt you have that many people back there in the tunnels. Hell, you look like you're half-dead, so excuse me if I'm not intimidated."
"'Scuse me?" Jack growled. "I'll have you know I've already taken down two bounty heads, and I have the power of a Devil Fruit, the Doku Doku no Mi!"
He pointed directly at the enemy captain, sneering. "So, what do you have, huh!?"
Without saying a word, Wez pointed back over his shoulder, where his crew had drawn their weapons, sizing up their outnumbered opponents - Drake in particular - with very pleased grins.
"Oh." Jack blinked. "Oh yeah."
Seizing the initiative, one of the Road Warriors drew back his spear and flung it forward, directly at Jack's head. Nonplussed, Jack simply tilted his head to the side, allowing a thorny vine to to snake past and grab it out of the air.
"You do need to stop putting your patte in your mouth, Jack," Mary said airily, tossing the weapon away before stepping forward, "even if you can do it literally."
Seeing her, some of the Road Warriors' expressions changed from sadistic confidence to recognition, and then to slight apprehension. Apparently they had heard of her; not to mention that this made two Devil Fruit users (or at least one, and another who claimed they were) and a very angry merman that they had to deal with. Gerald was, as per usual, left out of this equation.
Wez looked out over them all. "So, before I sic my boys on you guys, I feel I should ask: why'd you come down here, anyway?"
Drake pointed at him. "The people that you've enslaved down here. Return them, now."
Wez paused for a moment, and then he chuckled. "I figured it was something like that. Fair enough, but while I can't speak for myself, our employer here wouldn't be very happy if we just allowed you to take them."
Jack shrugged at this statement, and lifting his hand up to his hat, leaned it down over one eye. "Well...it's a good thing we weren't planning on asking, then, isn't it Drake?"
The merman cracked his knuckles. "Yes."
Wez looked unimpressed. Well, presumably, under his mask. "Figured that was coming, too."
He jabbed a claw at the group. "Get 'em."
And get them they did.
Captain Helsing considered himself a man of high class and good taste. Or at the very least, wanted to one day be a man of high class and good taste.
It was for this reason that he was currently strolling calmly through the tunnels, instead of what other people would be doing in his situation - namely, running as fast as their legs would carry them. Helsing reasoned that, if he was now officially a criminal, then he may as well be a refined one. If you had to run, you clearly weren't very refined.
And he didn't have to run. Thus far, he had passed several forked tunnels, taking a series of turns that only he had knowledge of. If any of those marines tried to follow him - assuming they found the entrance, he reminded himself - they'd be lost for hours. And hours was far more time than he needed. A discreet tunnel leading off from the main cavern led to a hidden shore, where a small, fast boat was docked, stocked with food and money. He wasn't done just yet.
Suddenly, Helsing frowned. Even if he had made a conscious effort to avoid any hands-on training, you didn't make captain without picking up a few things. And right now his ears had picked up some noise from further down the tunnel.
"Hokushin."
The assassin appeared next to him instantly. "You rang, boss?"
"Exactly what is going on down here, pray tell?" Helsing said icily.
Hokushin shrugged. "Nothin' much. Just a few interlopers, attacking those Road Warrior idiots."
"What!?" Helsing yelled. "Who!?"
The assassin shrugged again. "I dunno who anyone else is, but that merman that attacked you is there. Guess he's trying to free his buddies."
"Do - do I have to tell you to do things!?" Helsing screeched. "Get in there and kill them! That's your job, isn't it!?"
"Not unless someone tells me to, no." Hokushin eyed the captain carefully. "I take it things went badly up there?"
Helsing snorted, brushing past him and continuing further on. "You could say that," he muttered, regaining some of his composure, "now, go take care of this problem, like a proper assassin."
"Alright, alright, I'm going." Hokushin replied, and then disappeared.
As he shot off down the tunnel, passing Helsing in an instant, the assassin thought to himself. "I know what that look means. This ship is sinking, and he's not going to be here when it does. Well, neither will I. I'll go through the motions for a bit, and then jump too. Hm...I guess he won't need those mermen now, will he? Heh heh heh..."
"Hm."
Ryoga stared at the blank cavern wall in front of him, frowning slightly.
"I suppose I took a wrong turn. Again."
Resolutely, Ryoga turn and ran back to the fork he had taken, turning down a different path this time.
"This won't stop me. You can't run away from justice forever, Helsing!"
Thud.
"Ow!"
If it was one thing that had been constantly beaten into most of the Road Warrior Pirates recently, courtesy of Drake, it was that quantity wasn't always superior to quality. And for the members that hadn't been shown this fact, the Skull Pirates were more than happy to demonstrate it for them.
"C'mon, c'mon! Is that all you got!?" whooped Jack, bobbing and weaving among the various weapons being thrust, swung, and flung at him. He responded with a simple but very effective barrage of hooks and jabs, smashing noses, cracking chins, and pounding stomachs.
An honorable warrior might feel ashamed at having to fight so many people that were weaker than him. Jack, on the other hand, was having a wonderful time.
Jack half-grinned, half-sneered at his remaining foes. "Are you guys done already? I'm gettin' bor-"
He cut himself off and blinked as several of the Road Warriors he had punched out rose to their feet, anger in their eyes.
"Okay..." Jack muttered, "guess at least some of you guys are tougher than you look."
His smile returned, and he slammed a fist into his palm. "Not that I'm complaining, of course!"
Nearby, Drake was giving similar treatment to the crew members he was fighting. As usual, the Road Warrior pirates weren't a match for him in the least, their weapons and bodies breaking beneath his mighty fists. In contrast to Jack, his attitude for this battle was far more tranquil, but that did not mean he wasn't enjoying this as well.
But...something felt wrong. Somehow, Drake felt like his anger was about to explode, and plunge him headling into the state of merman rage. He couldn't let that happen, or he would betray everything his master had taught him.
There was a lull in the combat, and he looked around at his temporary comrades.
Mary was fighting as elegantly as always, gracefully dodging her foe's attacks, and countering with an array of thorn vines from her arms and legs. Her strikes were not as blunt as Jack or Drake's, but they were no less devestating.
"Really," she sighed, flipping out of the way of a double bladed axe and quickly kicking her attacker away, "I'll never know why pirates like always need to have a theme."
Back-flipping to avoid a sweep from a spear, she landed on her hands, spinning around to hit several more of them with her transformed vine-feet. "Amarrant Parterre!"
Landing smoothly back on her feet, Mary a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and shrugged. "I know you're trying to be unique, but it just makes you look worse than other crews. I mean, I didn't get my surnom intentionally, you know?"
She frowned as, again, the Road Warriors she was fighting got back up. "It's true that I don't have much stopping power, but you'd think they'd stay down for at least a moment."
Then, smiling, she licked her lips. "Oh well. It would be boring if it were over that quickly, wouldn't it?"
In another area of the cavern, the Road Warrior pirates were quickly learning that the group didn't have just four people, but instead, five. Frank had moved into the cavern at about the same time Jack and Gerald had, and was now making his presence known, if not exactly seen.
The Road Warriors turned to look as a loud flash bang went off, distracting their attention for one brief moment. But long enough for Frank to approach, quickly hitting one in the neck with a quick chop, dropping him.
As a nearby thug began to turn at the noise, Frank quickly leapt behind him and attached a scroll to his back. "Tao Scroll; Absolute Zero." He whispered.
Then he kicked the man into the brunt of the crowd. The ensuing explosion sent a blast of cold temperature out among the Road Warriors, and they fell to the ground, chilled to the bone.
Not willing to take the chance of being seen, Frank leapt back into cover. He then frowned, as he saw them, again, getting gradually to their feet, albeit less swiftly than the other groups.
Drake saw all this, and nodded to himself. "Something is definitely wrong."
He turned to look at a thug who was getting up. Specifically, at the man's arm, which was bent at an entirely wrong angle.
"With injuries like that, he shouldn't be standing, and I've given similar ones to most of his friends."
Drake began to move, dodging several more attacks and delivering some of his own, before putting his back up against Jack's.
"How's it going, Needlenose?" Jack asked casually, knocking out a charging foe with an especially low kick.
"Fine, except that our enemies don't seem to feel like staying down." Drake replied, smashing down a foe with an overhand blow.
"Yeah, I could tell something funny was going on. I'm not really an expert on this whole 'spirit energy' deal, though. You have any thoughts?"
The two spun around themselves, attacking two charging foes at the same time.
Drake concentrated for a moment, but then shook his head. "They're definitely being affected by an outside source...I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it seems to be making them fight with heightened ferocity, and ignore the pain from any wounds we inflict on them."
"Well, that's one way to make these losers tough, at least." Jack said snarkily. "Sounds like a Devil Fruit power to me."
Drake nodded. "It could be. That would explain why I can't track it to the source; unlike spirit users, those with Devil Fruit abilities don't give off auras."
Jack shrugged. "Well, if these guys are gonna keep getting up," he grinned, "then all we have to do is beat them down until they stay down!"
"As good an idea as any." Drake replied, before moving back into a stance.
"Let's go!"
If the Road Warriors had been paying attention at, they might have noticed that only four members among the group of five were attacking them. This was helped by Frank's appearance coinciding with Gerald's disappearance...as well as the fact that this was all part of Jack's plan.
In truth, the captain had not only expected the prisoner gambit to fail, but had counted on it. No-one would expect a plan that stupid to have anything more to it. But, much like Jack (sometimes), it had hidden depths.
Gerald's exact location was as far away from the fighting as he could get: very close to a group of a shackled mermen. Despite the bloodlust that had swept through them, the Road Warriors had still retained enough common sense to keep the battle away from their meal tickets. The captured minorities were watching the battle apathetically; so long as none of them got dragged into it, they didn't really care.
Whistling a merry tune, Gerald slowly and carefully picked his way over to the group, making sure not to attract the attention of any of the Road Warriors. It was a skill he had honed over many, many occasions. But those are stories for another day.
Spinning on Gerald's finger was a large ring, on which several keys were attached, each of them for the shackles binding this particular group of mermen. Some recon on Frank's part had located the crew members that held the other keyrings as well, and the shinobi had made sure to knock them out as soon as the fight had begun, leaving them helpfully at the edge of the cavern.
Clearing his throat to catch their attention, Gerald strode up, the mermen watching him warily. Somewhat wisely, Gerald stopped a few feet from them
"Hello there!" he called, smiling in what he hoped was a disarming way. "I, ah, can see you're all in a bit of a fix at the moment, aren't you? Well, not to worry..."
He flashed the keys. "I've got the answer to that problem right here. I bet you're happy to see these, aren't you?"
The mermen said nothing.
Gerald coughed slightly. "I'll, um, take that as a yes, I suppose."
Carefully, he eased up to the shackles. Stooping, he fumbled with the keys, and after a few failed guesses, unlocked the segments one by one. The mermen looked down, showing no visible reaction to their sudden freedom.
Gerald stepped back and gestured to their now free legs. "...well? You're free to go, if you haven't noticed."
One of them, a grown adult covered in scars and bruises, looked back up at him, and shrugged apathetically. "So what?"
"So...what?" Gerald echoed, mystified.
The merman looked him in the eye. His held a deep pain, that Gerald imagined had been long in forming. "I'm not sure what you all are trying to do down here, but it's pointless. Even if you defeat them and rescue us from this cavern, even if we take our families and leave this island...even if we're promised something like this will never happen again...it will. What's the point? Can you answer me that, human?"
Gerald said nothing.
The merman shook his head. "I thought not." He and the rest of the group turned to look away.
"Oh?" said Gerald, suddenly blinking in recognition. "I'm sorry, my good man, but I'm afraid I was lost in thought there for a moment. Terribly sorry. Now, as for your question..."
He smiled. "Why don't I answer it with another question?"
Something about the human's voice made the merman reply. "What?"
Gerald's smile grew. "Oh, I was just pondering, hypothetically; if I were to go back up there, to the villages, and find your family...I wonder what they would say if I told them that the husband, father, brother, what-have-you that they've been waiting for all this time...is nothing more than a craven coward that's too busy feeling sorry for himself to think of his loved ones."
The merman bristled. "What!?" he growled, his voice rising.
Gerald stepped in close, face to face with the merman. His eyes were narrowed, and his lips pressed tightly together. Despite the fact that the merman could probably break him in two easily, that somehow didn't make him the more intimidating figure.
"You heard me." Gerald said calmly. "There are scores of people in this world who are hated merely for existing. So it's a matter of race with you. So what? You think that's a good enough reason for you to just give up!?"
He gestured widely across the cavern, at his friends that were fighting. "I've heard many stories about how fearsome and evil all of you mermen are. My friends have as well, I'm sure. And yet here we all are, risking our lives to help you. Why? Because we want to, blast it, and it's the right thing to do! Why else would we be down here!?"
The merman stared down at him, his expression slowly turning to astonishment.
Gerald's remained the same. "But if you don't even want to be rescued yourselves, then why should I even bother talking to you? Just stay there gaping like idiots while we fight. If you're lucky, then we'll all die, and you'll never have to admit to your families that you were cowards. Now, good day to you."
He turned to go, but the merman's hand fell on his shoulder.
"Human," he said, his voice now tinged with slight respect, "what must we do to avoid being cowards?"
Gerald looked back at him. "Either run, or help us fight. But don't just stand there. Really, do I have to tell you this?"
The mermen looked at each-other hesistantly. What he was saying made sense, certainly. But could they really take action, after all this time?
"...well, well, well, what do we have here...?"
Suddenly, Gerald found himself with a jagged sword pressed right up against his throat. The Road Warrior who owned the blade leaned in, grinning.
"One of...them, huh?" he sneered, baring his teeth. "Hidin' back here...I guess you're the weak one, aren't you? Hah, when I bring Wez your head, I wonder what I'll get as a reward?"
He suddenly noticed the mermen staring at him, and directed a vicious glare at them. "What the hell are you freaks all staring at, huh!? Get back to work!"
They said nothing, continuing to simply look at him.
If the crew member were in a normal state of mind, he would have been slightly unnerved by this, and he may also have noticed that the mermen's shackles had been unlocked. That he wasn't was about to prove quite unfortunate for him.
"What, are you so stupid, you forgot our whole arrangement? Then let me remind you! I'll even speak slowly, so you can understand! Get...back...to...work...or...your...families...are...CHU - ARGH!"
The crew member went flying, his nose broken at the very least, as the merman at the head of the group decked him in the nose. He slid several feet before coming to a halt, and didn't get up again.
The merman turned to Gerald. "I choose to fight."
"Really." Gerald deadpanned. "Couldn't tell, for the life of me."
Evidently the other mermen had made their choices as well. They grabbed up any weapons that were on-hand; the shackles, rocks, even their own bare fists.
Then, they stared across the cavern at the people who had locked them up down here, and tormented them for so long, threatening to hurt their families if they dared to ever rise up. They stared...
And then they charged.
One of the mermen stayed back: the one who Gerald had spoken with.
"Where did you learn to talk like that, human?" he asked plainly.
Gerald just shrugged. "I don't suppose you'd believe I was winging it?"
He then ran off, to release the other mermen.
The combined charge of the mermen caught the Road Warriors off-guard, bowling them over before they had a chance to defend themsleves. They recovered quickly enough and fought back, but it was obvious from the start that the mermen's anger greatly outweighed whatever force was empowering them. Years of imprisonment away from your family will do that for you.
Regardless of whether their entry into the battle was enough to turn the tide, it certainly made it all the more hectic. Despite this, however, there was an area of the cavern that the Road Warriors were giving a wide berth. There was a very good reason for this.
At the sound of his men letting out screams of pain, Wez looked behind him, and frowned. "Damn. Who let them out?"
Without looking back ahead, he drew one of his claws in front of himself to block a thorn vine that was thrust at him.
"Sorry," he said, as the transformed appendage drew back to it's source, "didn't mean to ignore you, there."
"Oh, that's quite all right, Chemin Warrior," said Mary airily as her arm changed back to it's normal state, "you're more than allowed to be distracted by the fact that your plans have reached a...dead end, shall we say?"
Wez snorted. "Your tongue is as sharp as your attacks, The Thorn."
The two of them had run into each-other a few minutes ago, and so far their fight hadn't progressed any further than the opening formalities. The rather...odd nature of this bout probably had something to do with it, but neither of the two fighters had chosen to comment on it - Mary because she honestly didn't care, and Wez because that would mean admitting his crew had no women to speak of, an embarassment that would probably kill a lesser man.
But now it seemed that that was over. The two pirate's eyes locked, and as one, they moved. The deadly dance had begun.
At about the same time, in a rush of air that no-one heard or saw, Hokushin arrived in the cavern. He looked around at the fighting that was going on, his only reaction an indifferent shrug. "Now, the question is, exactly what did Helsing mean by 'all'? Kind of a vague order, especially for someone like me."
Of course, Hokushin wasn't stupid. Working with Helsing for so long had given him some insight into the man's mind, and he knew the captain was fully aware there was no order he could give that would fix this problem. This schem had become a sinking ship, and Helsing a fleeing rat. He, on the other hand, had become the designated scape goat. Fair enough, but Hokushin had no intentions of getting caught here. He could get off this island just as easily...but...
Well, working for someone like Helsing for so long, being bogged down and shackled with so many rules...it would make anyone want to blow off some steam.
Hokushin's gaze swept around the cavern, focusing on all of the different parties involved in the battle.
"Wez and his pathetic crew...no, no, there has to be someone to take the fall. These intruders...no, they're all right in the middle of everything, it'd take too long to get close. The mermen..."
A small smile appeared on his lips. "...I don't see why not."
His gaze shifted again, moving from mermen to mermen, looking for just one...
There. One of them was nearby grappling with a member of Wez's crew, and his position gave Hokushin the perfect angle toward his unprotected back.
From a standing position, Hokushin instantly burst into movement, racing toward the mermen. A knife appeared in his hand on the way, and he drew it back, preparing to plunge it straight into-
Something that caused the knife's blade to shatter into pieces.
Hokushin reacted quickly, moving fast enough to dodge most of the shards. One, however, still nicked him in the cheek, creating a wound that would surely scar.
Stepping back, the assassin clapped a hand to the cut, letting out a growl as he felt it. "Who...who did that!?"
"I did, I believe."
Raising his head at the voice, Hokushin glared at Frank, who had interposed himself between the assassin's blade and the merman. Well, his mask, to be exact; the shinobi had bent slightly so that the knife hit it rather than his neck. It was anyone's guess as to why the weapon had shattered altogether, though - the decoration must have been crafted out of sturdy material. It was quite lucky for Frank that this had been the case...Hokushin's knives weren't of the kitchen variety, after all.
Before Hokushin could fully process this, Frank lashed out quickly, punching him right in the jaw. Being of somewhat light stature, the blow sent the assassin flying back a short distance.
Getting to his feet quickly, Hokushin glared at Frank. "You little punk...how dare you get in my way! And to top it off, you cut my - hey, are you listening!?"
"Ah," Frank said absently, "yes, of course."
Of course, this wasn't really the case, but for good reason - the shinobi was currently cradling the hand he'd just punched with, wincing in slight pain. "I...I think I sprained it..."
Hokushin growled irritably. "Seems like everywhere I go lately, I'm running into freaks with masks. Well, if you're so willing to die, kid, I'll gladly show you what happens when you come between an assassin and his prey!"
Frank looked back up at Hokushin, his expression swiftly changing behind his mask, even if his opponent couldn't see it. "So, assassins kill for both money and pleasure, now? That's news to me."
Hokushin just shrugged. "If you can't get any personal satisfaction out of your job, then why do it? And there's nothing that gets me satisfied more than wiping out self-righteous idiots like yourself."
Pulling another knife out from wherever he had gotten the last one, the assassin's smile returned. "Heh heh...I wonder how many slices from this you'll be able to take before that tough guy act of your's crumbles. Is that stupid mask really supposed to scare anyone?"
Frank said nothing for a moment, and then shook his head. "You shouldn't simply wonder about things like that - any answer you receive will be a hollow one, whether it's positive or not."
As Hokushin stared blankly, he held up a finger. "For instance, I would not say 'after this battle, I wonder if you will fear people with masks'. Rather, I would say, 'after this battle, you will fear people with masks.' That is far more appropriate...because you will."
Hokushin continued to stare for a moment, before his expression changed to a sneer. "Are you trying to threaten me, kid? You must not know who I am, then...although I suppose I can't help that." He tapped the flat end of the blade against his other hand. "Now, try not to wet yourself. I am-"
"-Hokushin, Assassin of the North Star. An assassin that was very active in this sea until about a year and a half ago, you were infamous for taking jobs with women and children as the targets. These actions earned you a bounty of seventeen million, one that was finely collected on by an enterprising bounty hunter. You were supposed to have been executed...and yet here you are, standing in front of me."
Frank tilted his head. "Is that about correct, Hokushin?"
The assassin shrugged. "Just about, except for the part where I was caught. That guy couldn't have hunted his way out of a paper-bag. He was just some guy a made a deal with; I gave him my bounty's worth in cash and a reputation he didn't deserve, and he gave me the opportunity to lay low for a while, take the heat off me. That guy they hung was...well, he wasn't me, and that's all I cared about."
"Letting an innocent man be killed to save your own skin..." Frank breathed. "You're truly a despicable person, aren't you?"
"Well, of couse." Hokushin replied airily. "It's in the job description, isn't it?"
He resumed toying with the blade. "Now, do you have any more stupid questions you'd like to ask, or can we get started already?"
"Gladly." Frank replied, and drew his katana.
Both fighters then disappeared, taking their fight to a realm invisible to the untrained eye.
Mary took the offensive, sprinting across the distance between them with long strides. Wez stood where he was as she approached, and slowly pulled back one of his claws.
"Dead End...RIPPER!"
Mary was so shocked by the attack name that she almost forgot to dodge, flipping over the claw and touching her hands down on top of it. "You must be kidding. I was only joking, really."
Wez quickly moved to throw the girl off, but Mary was faster, leaping off the weapon and moving behind the large man, kicking him in the back of the head as she went by. While the Road Warrior wasn't injured at all by the attack, thanks to his mask, he did stagger momentarily; long enough for Mary to land and sweep out with a vine leg, knocking the enemy pirate to the ground.
Wez began to push himself back up with his claws, but in just a moment Mary was next to him, pulling back a transformed leg.
"Broche...Marche!"
The kick sent Wez spinning across the floor of the cavern, a gash spreading from the middle of his chest to his right side. He came to a stop and, growling with irritation, got to his feet, without any interruption this time. When he did, he frowned behind his mask, as the first thing he saw was Mary, who had immediately begun advancing toward him.
The girl allowed herself a slight smirk. "He has power, but nothing else. I outclass him in both galoper and allonge, so this shouldn't take long. Hm, any member of our crew would be more than a match for him."
As Mary neared him, Wez drew back both of his claws. "Gridlock Crusher!"
Both of the massive weapons slammed together with a resounding crunch - and hit nothing but air, as Mary threw herself in a sharp roll to the left, her small height allowing her to pass under the blades unharmed. Flipping to her feet, she lashed out with another kick, this time to Wez's left flank.
Stumbling backward slightly from the blow, Wez moved before Mary could attack him again, leaping through the air at her with his claws out-stretched. "Overpass Dive!"
Mary didn't even have to move - she simply bent back, lower than the claws that had been aimed at her head. As Wez's face passed by her's, she smiled, and not in a friendly way.
"Sauter Godot!"
The fierce upward kick caught Wez right in his stomach, knocking him out of the air and sending him bouncing across the cave floor. A piece of his mask broke off on a particularly sharp rock, sailing right past Mary's head. The girl didn't flinch.
Growling, Wez got to his feet, now bleeding slightly from the collective lashes the girl had given him. Immediately, he lunged at her again, beginning to strike out rapidly with his claws in a flurry of stabs and slashes. "Freeway Frenzy!"
"...what?" was all Mary had to say, beginning to gracefully flip and dodge the attacks, and responding with her own whenever there was an opening.
Finally, Wez stopped his charge and stepped back, panting slightly. If it were possible for him to wipe the sweat off his forehead at the moment, he would have done so.
Mary smirked again, hopping lightly back and forth. "Oh? Are you tired already, Chemin Warrior?"
Wez didn't reply, simply pausing for a moment. Then he nodded. "Okay. I think that's just about enough."
Mary blinked. "Huh?"
Suddenly, the Road Warrior lunged forward - far faster than he had been so far. While caught off-guard, Mary still acted quickly enough to throw herself to the side, barely avoiding the razor-sharp claw thrust at her.
The girl landed smoothly, far less confident than she'd been until now. "What's going on? Was he just holding back until now?"
Her eyes flicked to where Wez had previously stood. Sitting on the ground over a spider-web of cracks in the rock floor were two metal bracers.
"Poids?" Mary gasped inwardly. Her gaze turned back to Wez, whose claws were indeed missing a section.
The Road Warrior seemed pleased. "Are you surprised? You didn't really think I was that weak, did you, Thorn? By removing those weights, I can greatly increase my speed. Now then, shall we continue?"
Again he lunged toward her, forcing Mary to dodge again lest she find herself impaled on one of his claws. That wouldn't be pleasant, to say the least.
Wez brought back both his claws. "Freeway Frenzy!"
This time the shoe was on the other foot, as Mary's dodging was far less smooth than it had been earlier, and the attacks came too quickly to attempt any counter-attacks.
Finally, Mary jumped backward from a swipe that went wild, putting some much needed distance between the two of them. Breathing hard, she reached up and adjusted her beret before smiling. "Well, it seems like even without those weights, you still can't hit me, Chemin Warrior."
Wez's eyes glinted slightly behind his mask. "Oh, really? Is that a challenge, Thorn?"
Mary took a cautious step back, her face changing to disbelief mixed with dread. "...I had to open my big mouth, didn't I?"
Raising one foot, and then the other, Wez kicked both of them backward. This sent two smaller, but no doubt equally heavy weights thudding to the floor.
Mary slowly gulped, readying herself to dodge the coming attack.
Wez smirked. "Dead End...RIPPER!"
The Road Warrior surged forward like a projectile from a cannon. At the same time, Mary threw herself in a cartwheel to the side, putting more speed into her movements than she'd been until now...
...and crashed to the ground, tumbling out of the air with all the grace of a toad.
Slowly, Mary pushed herself up. "W-what...what happened..." She suddenly grit her teeth, feeling a sharp pang from her left side. Hesitantly moving her hand there, she winced as she felt dampness - blood. The attack hadn't hit her dead on, but it had grazed, and even a minor wound from a weapon that large - especially when factoring in her small size - was enough to tear open Mary's side considerably.
"It hurts..." the girl thought. "But...I'm not going to whimper."
Slowly, she rose back to her feet, grabbing her fallen beret and placing it back on her head.
Wez waited, apparently not wanting to attack the girl while she was down. "You're still going to fight? I'm surprised." He sounded somewhat impressed.
Despite her wound, Mary smiled fiercely. "Aren't you the one underestimating their opponent now, Chemin Warrior? I'm not some frail little girl - I can still fight."
She moved back into her stance. "Shall we continue? You're about to see why I was truly given the name l'epine. I do hope you'll be grateful."
Wez hmphed derisively. "You're still so confident, even with a wound that large...well, I can certainly fix that."
Mary's smile changed to a smirk. "You can certainly peiner, at least."
Even with his usual self-deprecation, Frank honestly hadn't thought there could be any foe on this island that could match him. And, owing to the laws of the universe, he had been proven quite wrong in the form of Hokushin.
The assassin was easily his match in terms of speed, if not moreso, easily parrying Frank's katana with his dagger. In a head-to-head confrontation, the smaller blade would surely lose against the sword, struck away or broken underneath it's weight. But Hokushin seemed fully aware of this, and used his speed to his advantage, only attacking his opponent's sides or back. Frank didn't doubt that the assassin also knew where to hit him so that he didn't get up again. He couldn't afford to make any errors in this battle.
Leaping backward after another clash between their two blades, Hokushin was motionless for only a moment, before he dashed forward at Frank once more. Sliding around at the last moment, he thrust his blade toward the shinobi's right side, aiming for in-between his ribcage.
Frank reacted quickly, swinging his blade to intercept the dagger. With a clang, the smaller weapon collided against the flat of the other, stopping Hokushin cold.
Frank then drew back his leg, hoping that a kick might prove less...double-edged for him. However, he suddenly saw something unpleasant; the assassin, smiling.
Hokushin flicked his wrist, the motion faster than any normal person could react to. Of course, Frank was a shinobi, and not a normal person by any definition. His hand quickly moved, getting between the knife Hokushin had thrown and his vitals.
Despite his sneak attack failing, Hokushin smiled momentarily, hopping backward before Frank could counter-attack. "Gotcha, mister halloween mask..."
Suddenly however, he frowned, as he took a closer look at the wound he'd made. "What the...even with all that covering he's wearing, that should have gone straight through his hand, and out the other side!"
He watched as Frank, eyeing him carefully, sheathed his katana before grasping hold of the blade with his other hand.
Hokushin scoffed. "He can't seriously intend to..."
The assassin was then forced to eat his words, as the knife was gradually pulled free. Tossing the weapon aside, Frank drew his katana and leapt towards his opponent.
Hokushin responded, and the high-speed battle began once again. But the assassin was slightly distracted now. "How the hell did he pull that out so easily? That wound should have been bigger, too...did it glance off, somehow?"
So caught up in wondering about his opponent was the assassin, that when Frank's katana slipped past his dagger and cut into his side, it came as a complete surprise. Letting out an uncharacteristic yelp, Hokushin kicked away, using a series of short hops to put some distance between them.
With the slight lull in the combat, Frank's eyes shifted behind his mask, looking toward his injured hand. Despite the ease with which he'd pulled out the dagger, the pain from the wound was enough to give him a permanent wince. However, that wasn't quite what he was concerned about.
"It was very fortunate that his weapon hit there...but I'll have to mend that glove after this. I doubt Hokushin will notice anything in the middle of battle, so I should be fine. I must make sure to keep him occupied, however."
He watched carefully as Hokushin looked irritably at his new wound, before glaring at him. "You're not supposed to be this tenacious, dammit...but if you're so dead set on it, then why don't I show you something interesting?"
Frank watched, quickly shifting into a ready stance, as Hokushin adopted an odd posture; his head and arms hung down loosely, making him resemble a sleepwalker. Slowly, he began to sway back and forth, almost like a pendulum.
He spoke up as he did so, albeit with a growing lethargy. "I picked this technique up during a trip to East Blue. It was the signature move of a famous pirate there, who I was hired to kill. Heh, he nearly did me in with it, too. I had some free time afterward to lick my wounds, so I decided to learn it myself."
The swaying continued, and Hokushin's eyes began to dull. "Wasn't really that hard, either...genius in it's simplicity, you might say...basically, the user wills himself into a trance-like state, relying purely on instinct to fight...this lets them move much faster than normal.
Frank frowned. "Faster...by how much, exactly? If I may ask, that is."
"Well..." Hokushin drawled. "I've never really thought about it...not in terms of multiplication, anyway. But while I'm in this state...I can move fast enough that..."
He lifted his fingertips slowly, displaying them to Frank. "...my feet touch the ground ten times...in the blink of an eye."
A moment passed, and Frank nodded. "Very well. If you think an ability like that will allow you to defeat me, then please, go ahead."
Hokushin grinned. "...alright."
"Shakushi!"
"Hmmm..." murmured Wez, lunging at Mary with one claw, only to have her evade the weapon, as well as the other that came sailing in from the side. "I wonder, were you
holfding back a bit, thorn?"
Mary smiled calmly in mid-dodge. "Oh, peut-etre...or maybe you just became slower, Chemin Warrior?"
Indeed, it seemed like Mary was moving faster now. Ducking under a wide swing from Wez's left claw, she struck out with a transformed leg, hitting him in his open stomach, smiling all the wile.
Stumbling a bit, Wez quickly recovered, and then lunged toward Mary with one claw, apparently executing another Dead End Ripper attack.
Mary moved instantly, executing a far more successful cartwheel to evade the attack....however, when Wez was perpendicular to her, something in his boots suddenly gave a click, and the Road Warrior rotated ninety degrees before thrusting the other claw at her. "Intersection Turn Cutter!"
Having just returned to her feet, Mary didn't have enough time to dodge, or even comment on the stupid name.
Wez chuckled as he felt his claw thunk into Mary's body...
"Wait...'thunk'?"
He looked down, and his expression changed to one of shock. "What the!?"
The spot on Mary's chest he had aimed his claw at had erupted in a layer of small, interlocking thorns that stopped the weapon cold. Aside from being forced back a step or two, Mary was unharmed.
"Broche Enseigne." The girl said calmly. "Don't tell me...you thought those vignes were all I could use my DevilFruit for, didn't you? That was the case for many people who fought me. But they were only speaking for themselves, and their own petit imaginations. Hm, if they had attained this power, I bet they wouldn't even have bothered learning what flower it allows you to turn into." She looked up at him. "Would you like to know, Chemin Warrior?"
Wez tugged at his claw hard, releasing it from the thorns that held it, and backed away carefully. He'd been a pirate long enough to know that people didn't start making speeches mid-battle for nothing. She had something up her sleeve.
"And here I am, with nothing else up my mine. This could be bad."
Mary cleared her throat, and began to speak, sounding like a teacher giving a lecture. "It's scientific name is Arcus Rosa, which translates to Rainbow Rose. But that is a bit pretentious, so most prefer to call it by it's nickname, 'Support Rose'. It's a very...meaningful name."
Wez remained motionless, watching carefully.
Mary smiled. "You're a very good listener. You see, the Arcus Rosa is a very unique flower, in almost every way. For instance, unlike other flowers, which can grow alone and often do so, the Arcus Rosa will only grow near large patches of it's own kind. It doesn't seem to matter which, but multiple varieties appear to be preferable for it. Now, why do you think this is the case?"
Wez didn't say anything. Evidently botany wasn't one of his strong suits. Who would have figured?
"Well..." Mary continued. "After the Rosa sprouts and blooms, it enters into a symbiotic relationship with the patch of flowers nearby. You see, when it undergoes photosynthesis, the Rosa far more nutrients for itself than a normal fleur would. The excess amount it shares with the other flowers, helping them to grow, aiding them, hence the name."
Wez snorted. "Well, unless you want to do some gardening, I don't see-"
"I wasn't finished." Mary interrupted. "This last part applies much more to you, so you should pay attention. You see, the relationship between the Rosa and other flowers is one of give-and-take. They receive the Rosa's excess nutrients...and in turn, when it distributes the food to them, it takes something in return."
"...and what's that, Thorn?" Wez asked. He didn't like where this was going.
Mary smirked. "To put it simply, my dear Chemin Warrior, it absorbs a portion of their DNA. No botanist has ever figured out exactly how the Rosa is able to do this, but it can, and after it does, it can then duplicate certain aspects and abilities of that flower."
"In other words," she said with a glint in her eye, "it's a flower that can evoluer infinitely, with limitless potential. Helping others to become strong yourself...hm, I think that suits me very well."
She paused momentarily, to take in the look of shock that shone clear through Wez's mask, before shrugging. "But, unfortunately, I'm not nearly at that level yet. I was only told about this ability about a year ago."
Mary waited a second or two, for Wez to visibly relax, before adding, "sadly for you, it was on an island covered with flowers. Would you like to see some of them?"
Lifting up her hand, she revealed a small flower that had bloomed on the palm of it. It had blue petals, and every so often, released a puff of gas the same color."This is Curro Flos, a flower with an interesting defense mechanism. When it senses a predator coming - usually a small animal, like a chipmunk or a ecureuil - it releases a special gas, that when inhaled, increases the speed of whatever has done so. Unfortunately, for simple creatures like them, this causes their minds to be unable to keep up with their body. They quickly go mad as a result, running around frantically and usually killing themselves with their encheri speed. Even if they survive long enough for it to wear off, they won't dare go near the flower again. Hah, nature can be very cruel, non?"
Her smile grew. "You aren't a fool, Chemin Warrior, so you must have realized by now. Ever since you cut me, I've been inhaling the gas from this fleurissez. My mind is a little more complicated than a squirrel's, so it has no negative effect, while at the same time making me faster."
She shrugged. "Of course, I'm a bit bigger than any predator of the flower's, so it takes a larger portion of the gas to affect me like that."
Then, Mary suddenly curtsied. "That's why I should thank you. You're very polite, standing there all this time and letting me talk."
Wez blinked, abruptly realizing the blunder he'd made.
"As a reward, I promise not to blesser you too badly."
As Mary crossed the distance between them quickly, and drew back one leg, one thought was at the forefront of Wez's mind. "...well, crap."
The young girl looked up at him, her beautiful eyes shining with anger that had been restrained until now."This is for helping someone do something this affreux! Un!"
Wez grunted as the wide, sweeping kick caught him in the middle of his chest, the thorns creating a shallow but painful cut across it. He stumbled backward a few paces, but rallied just in time to see Mary leaping toward him, foot outstretched.
"This is for every terrible thing your men have done to the people here! Deux!"
This kick caught Wez square in his throat, sending him reeling back another couple feet. When he was righted, he immediately began to cough and gag, the kick screwing up his air intake momentarily.
He didn't have much time to worry about that, however, as on the rebound Mary had landed on her hands, and after pushing off the ground forcefully, she was now in the air above him.
"And this is for being stupid enough to think you could defeat the Skull Pirates!" Beginning to flip around repeatedly as she came down, she finally threw both her transformed legs downward in a powerful double kick. "TROI! Broche Danser; Premier Construire!"
The thorn vines slammed down onto the top of Wez's mask, dashing the pirate to the floor and knocking a few more shards off his mask.
Mary landed gracefully, but she didn't seem to be finished just yet. "And finalement...this is from me!"
The girl lifted her leg, and slowly began to rotate in a pirouette, gradually picking up speed.
Pushing himself to his feet, Wez growled. "As if I'm going to hit a dead end here..."
He pulled back one claw. "Dead End...RIPPER!"
Putting as much force behind the thrust as he could, Wez lunged toward Mary quickly...
...but not quick enough.
"BROCHE PRIMA FINALE!"
The kick hit Wez square in the stomach, releasing all of the momentum Mary had built up in one mighty blow. The Road Warrior was stopped cold, his attack completely interrupted.
Wez groaned, feeling the kick shift his insides slightly. "Damn it..."
Then he was sent flying away, bouncing across the cavern floor before slamming face-first into the wall with a massive crash.
Amazingly, however, Wez was still conscious after this, and he moaned as a spider-web of cracks spread across his mask, before the whole thing broke apart.
What was under the mask was somewhat of a disappointment; Wez's rough face and corn-yellow hair weren't exactly handsome, but nor was he particularly ugly, either. Put simply, he looked average. What a let-down.
"Dammit..." He thought to himself again. "Why did someone like her...have to show up...?"
As he began to fall unconscious, he looked around at his crew, who were apparently now realizing that they shouldn't still be standing. This was resolved very quickly by them crashing to the floor, for good this time. He groaned again.
"Without me, they're all...useless..."
And then the Road Warrior fell unconscious, his role in this little affair having come to a close.
Frank jumped to the right as Hokushin flew past, barely missing him with a swing from his dagger. He took a moment to catch his breath. Hokushin hadn't been making an empty boast, it seemed. In fact, he'd barely been able to avoid his opponent's attacks since he had entered this trance.
The assassin came toward him again. Frank swung his katana at the same time as Hokushin thrust his dagger, and immediately felt the assassin's weapon collide against it with all the force of a cannonball. Frank strained against the force as best he could, but was ultimately bowled over by the strength of the attack. As he fell, Frank fell to the left, using the transferred momentum to carry himself out of harm's way.
Rolling to his feet, Frank watched as Hokushin quickly spun around, not halting for a moment, before charging at him once more.
Frank smiled. "Very well. If speed is your expertise, then I'll simply nullify it."
His hand snapped out of a pouch, holding one of his scrolls. "Tao Scroll; Absolute Zero!"
The em to projectile was tossed, not at Hokushin but at the ground in his path. The slip of paper exploded, the power contained within creating a miniature ice field in the cavern. Glittering, it was beautiful in it's foreigness; so much so that even people involved in the battle were distracted by it.
Hokushin, however, didn't seem to notice. In fact, he was running across the ice like it wasn't even there. In an instant, he was upon the shinobi.
Time seemed to slow down momentarily. Hokushin pulled back his dagger, while Frank, gulping, took a step backward and began to raise his sword. It was far too late for it to parry the weapon, however, and it was aimed directly at his heart. It seemed the battle was decided now...
...and then the gods of fate decided to smile upon Frank, as they often did - and just as often, didn't - for people in these kinds of situations. For, you see, Frank had mis-aimed a bit when he had thrown the scroll. Not by much, but enough so that a tiny bit of the ice had been created underneath his feet as well. Now, surprised by this, he tripped, sailing underneath the thrust dagger.
Despite hitting his head somewhat hard on the icy surface, Frank still acted quickly. sweeping out with his legs and knocking Hokushin's out from under him. The assassin's head met the ice with a sickening crack, and he lay still.
Getting to his feet, Frank angled his katana to point at his opponent's throat, then exhaled heavily. "Just like I planned...hah, I wonder if anyone would believe me?"
Clearing his throat, he addressed the assassin. "Now get up, Hokushin, and no sudden movements, or you'll regret it."
However, something was wrong. Hokushin wasn't moving, and what's more, Frank couldn't tell if he was breathing, either.
Frank gulped. "Did...did he hit his head harder than me?"
Any other shinobi probably wouldn't have cared, but Frank didn't particularly want to become a murderer. He leaned in, listening for any life signs...
And stumbled backward, a knife wound in the right side of his stomach.
Hokushin leapt to his feet and hopped backward off the ice. He was laughing. "How stupid are you? Really, how stupid are you?"
Frank didn't seem quite prepared to reply, for he was surveying the wound he'd been given. Hokushin had only intended it to surprise him, so it hadn't been delivered as accurately as it could have, but it was still a dangerous injury all the same.
Hokushin smiled, toying with his knife. "I guess that was just a fluke after all. Hah, I don't know why I was worried in the first place."
Frank raised his head to glare at him. "So, you are a coward as well."
The assassin just shrugged. "I'll freely admit that. But aren't you one, as well? You couldn't kill me when you had a perfect chance..." He began to sway again. "...and too bad for you, because that's the only chance you're gonna get."
"Shakushi!"
Once again, Hokushin shot toward Frank like a rocket. The shinobi responded by diving to the left, tossing out a flurry of shurikens as he did so.
Hokushin swung his blade wildly, easily swatting the projectiles out of the air, before altering his course to pursue his fleeing opponent. His speed easily allowed him to overtake Frank, and he drew back the knife once more, preparing to stab him in the back.
However, Frank suddenly whirled around and threw something in his hand at the rushing assassin. Hokushin didn't notice it in his state, of course...until there came an explosion of light and sound, overwhelming his senses and knocking him out of his trance state.
Letting out a scream and stumbling backward, Hokushin clapped his hands onto his eyes, dropping his knife as he did so. His vision was overcome by white, and he couldn't see a thing, while his eardrums screeched in pain, the only thing he could hear.
"Bastard..." he muttered to Frank, even though he couldn't see him. "When I get my hands on you, I'm going to make you suffer..."
A blow he didn't sense coming hit him in the stomach, bowling him over. "You stab me in the stomach, and then say things like that over only temporary injuries? I did not know that assassins were so petty."
It was being dismissed so easily that did it. People didn't ignore him when he made threats. They cowered, they begged, they tried to negotiate...they didn't fight back, didn't wound him this much, and didn't insult him! That wasn't how it was supposed to work! It WASN'T!
A low growl made it's way out from Hokushin's throat. "I'll slice you to pieces...and those into smaller pieces. I am Hokushin, assassin of the North Star! And you're dead!"
Drawing out yet another knife, Hokushin then made an unexpected movement; namely, hurling himself to the side - right at a large rock.
With a sickening crack that made even a trained shinobi like Frank wince, the assassin collided hard with the side of it, assuredly knocking himself out cold. Of course, since this was hardly a problem for him in a fight, he almost instantly rose, back in the Shakushi trance once more.
As before, Hokushin wasted no time in dashing towards Frank at a speed most people couldn't hope to achieve, or even witness with their own eyes.
Frank himself didn't believe he could ever do anything of that calibre...but, dealing with a technique like this? Maybe.
When Hokushin had begun to rise, Frank had sheathed his katana - an odd move when your opponent is about to attack, but perhaps not when you had a plan in mind.
Now, with the assassin lunging toward him, dagger held outward, Frank unsheathed the blade and swung it forward, all in one motion - an Iai technique.
Immediately, there came the grinding of metal, as Frank's katana met Hokushin's dagger once more. The North Star assassin seemed to have put more force into this rush than the last one that had hit - almost instantly, the shinobi felt his arm start to shudder under the force of the attack. If Hokushin was feeling something similar, he wasn't showing it. He probably couldn't feel much in that state, Frank realized.
Slowly, despite Frank's best efforts, the dagger began to force it's way down the length of the larger blade. Gradually, it inched toward Frank's body...
The shinobi grit his teeth. "If I die here...then he'll go free, and never be punished for his crimes, won't he?"
The thought of such a thing summoned up hidden adrenaline within Frank. "I can't...let that happen!"
With a mighty swing, Frank overpowered Hokushin, sending his dagger clattering away on the stone floor. Before Hokushin could think of drawing another knife - Frank held no doubt that he had one - the shinobi raised his blade aloft.
"Ittoryu Hissatsu; Ryusei Shougeki!"
Frank's blade slashed straight down the middle of Hokushin's body, sending a torrent of blood...
...no, wait, it simply sent him crashing to the ground, a lump forming on his head. Frank had hit him with the flat of his katana's blade.
However, the assassin seemed a bit more resilient than Wez had been. He lifted his head wearily, and choked, "how did...you see..."
Frank shrugged modestly. "Any shinobi would have been able to do it. You are fast, I'll freely admit, but you made a critical mistake by assuming that since I couldn't see or keep up with you, that I couldn't counter your attack.
On the island where I grew up, we were trained to fight against people who could move twice as fast as you claim to. Ever since you began using that ability, I was thinking and watching carefully, for any weaknesses or openings that I could find.
You must not have noticed, but the distance between us when you executed that last rush was exactly the same as when you used Shakushi for the first time. Back then, I counted off how long it took you to reach me, and used that knowledge when I swung my blade just now."
Frank tilted his head as Hokushin slowly processed that statement in his head. "Is that surprising? You also shouldn't assume your opponent will be easy beaten just because they look odd."
Bending low, he thrust the end of his katana's hilt into Hokushin's head. That did it, and the assassin slumped backward, out cold.
Conveniently, Frank's Goldfinger Invincible picked that moment to run out. Or perhaps not, for Frank was suddenly forced to realized he had a large cut on his hand, a dangerous stab wound in his gut, and a general aching all over. As a result, he executed the most appropriate action - he fainted.
However, as he did so, a small smile grew on his face. "I did it...again."
Whatever had been making the Road Warriors so determined in battle, it was now over. The mermen stood back, their pent-up anger fading away, and began to tend to any injuries they had sustained in the fighting. Jack looked around at the ones he'd been fighting and frowned.
"Man, and I had just broken a sweat, too."
He looked over at Drake. "Well, looks like we're done here, needle nose. Let's get these guys back up top, huh?"
The shark shook his head. "I agree, but I'm afraid we're not quite finished yet. Look."
He pointed across the cavern to a side-tunnel, which a black-clothed figure was ducking into.
"Helsing." Drake supplied.
Jack grinned. "That's our Big Bad, eh?" He cracked his knuckles. "Well, we know what we have to do, don't we?"
Drake only nodded.
Quickly, the two ran towards the tunnel. It was time to end this.
To be continued...
Next time, on One Piece: The Skull Pirates!
Ryoga: I'm afraid I can't let either of you pass.
Jack: Whatever. Punch him a couple times for me, Drake!
Brandy: Ryoga can take care of himself...he had to, before he joined us.
Shark VS Dragon! Which is the Strongest Style!?
Drake/Ryoga: I...WON'T LOSE!
Attacks
Mary
Amarrant Parterre: French for 'Lashing Flowerbed'. Moving into a handstand, Mary transforms both her legs to execute a wide, spinning kick in all directions. Ideal for attacking multiple foes at once, but obviously undesirable for fighting single foes.
Broche Marche: French for 'Thorn Step'. Essentially the same technique as Broche Fouetter, but done with a foot instead of an arm. It does come with the possible side-effect of making it easier for Mary to lose her balance, however.
Sauter Godot: French for 'Leaping Flowerpot'. Bending over backward, Mary executes a powerful kick directly above her. It has shorter range then most of her other techniques, and does leave her open to attacks on the ground, but it can be very useful against enemies that like to jump or glide around.
Broche Enseigne: French for 'Thorn Shield'. Sprouting a number of tiny thorns from her body, Mary assembles them together to block enemy attacks. Not an indestructible barricade by any means, but helpful in a pinch.
Broche Danser; Premierre Construire: French for 'Thorn Danse, First Act'. A series of three powerful blows, executed with deadly grace. Mary usually uses it to soften an opponent up before finishing them off. As the name implies, the first in a series of techniques.
Broche Prima Finale: A powerful finishing technique used by Mary. Building up force and momentum by going into a pirouette, Mary releases it in one powerful kick, that as shown in this chapter, can send the enemy flying. The 'Prima' in the name is a reference to the title of 'Prima Ballerina Assoluta', given only to the most exceptional dancers. Whether Mary qualifies is arguable, but the devestating force of this attack is not.
Frank
Ittoryu Hissatsu; Ryusei Shougeki: Japanese for 'One Sword Style Finishing Blow; Star Crash. Switching his katana to the flat side, Frank strikes a foe hard on the head, in an attempt to knock them unconscious. Useful for taking down an opponent harmlessly, and even moreso for someone who dislikes the sight of blood. Like Frank.
Wez
Dead End Ripper: Pulling back one of his claws momentarily, Wez lunges forward with it, attempting to impale his enemy on the weapon's edge. Due to the nature of the attack and the weapon used, it can also pierce through certain armor.
Gridlock Crusher: Spreading two of his claws apart, Wez slams them together hard, attempting to, as the name implies, crush whatever happens to be between them. Afterward, it also provides a handy shield for blocking frontal attacks.
Overpass Dive: Displaying surprising acrobatic 'talent' for a man his size, Wez leaps through the air, seeking to either crush his foe beneath his weight, or impale them with his claws.
Freeway Frenzy: Wez goes into a fierce series of combo attacks with his claws, attempting to overpower the enemy with his strength, or back them into a corner and leave them unable to dodge. Not very abundant in finesse, granted, but Wez didn't have much use for that in general.
Hokushin
Shakushi: The famed technique of one Captain Kuro, a famous pirate from West Blue. After the user wills himself into a trance, they display a noticeable increase in their speed and agility; however, at the same time, their ability for rational thinking is nullified and they can'r fully see where they're going. The ability increase is arguably worth it, however, as it allows the user to rival the speed of even CP9's Soru technique.
Brandy
Flipping the Table: Grabbing an opponent somewhere below the waist, but usually the feet, Brandy uses their weight to their disadvantage, flinging them off their feet like a domino.
Shake the Bottle: Brandy hits an opponent over the head with one fist, causing dizziness from or two sources, depending on whether his Devil Fruit is active at the time.
Bouncer's Rush: Dodging around an attacking foe, Brandy uses their momentum against them and hurls them into the nearest hard surface available.
Terms
Drunken Boxing: Essentially, exactly what the name says; a martial art practised by drunkards. The techniques utilized by students of the art use inebriation to it's fullest extent, for a variety of quick, unpredictable attacks.
Hebe Hebe no Mi: Translates roughly to 'Drunk Drunk Fruit', and for good reason. A rather...odd Devil Fruit, that allows the eater to store a small amount of alcohol within them whenever they consume anything that has it, and release it at a later date. This can allow them to turn themselves drunk, other people drunk (provided they're touching), or with the right amount of power, make an entire room plastered. Although useless at first glance, it can be very deadly when it needs to be...just like the person who ate the fruit.
Sanjiandse - Well, I apologize, but I can't think of anywhere I could fit this character. Just a suggestion, but perhaps you could make a story of your own to put her in, instead of expecting someone else to do it for you? You have stories of your own on your profile, after all, and you'd probably write better for her than I.
Well, until next time, see ya.